Skip to content

Center for Critical Discard Research

Train cars loaded with bags of waste collected in New York City's subway system.
Carl Zimring

Systems of Waste and Wasting

The Center for Critical Discard Research leads interdisciplinary research grounded in the liberal arts and sciences on systems of waste and wasting that inform the practices of design, production, distribution, and disposal taught across Pratt Institute.

  • Designers, architects, and artists cognizant of the consequences of their work contributing to waste streams across the world are potentially powerful agents of change.
  • Emerging out of the interdisciplinary approach of the Sustainability Studies Minor and inspired by key works in Discard Studies, the Center advances research projects that link the systems of production taught across the Institute to the practices, infrastructures, and consequences of disposal in the modern world.
  • The Center began presenting its work at the Discard Research Conference in March 2023 at the Alumni Reading Room. Future events will be announced here.
  • For more information on the Center, contact Director Carl Zimring.